Rig worker: Training saved lives after BP blowout

A Transocean employee who served as chief mate on the Deepwater Horizon says he believes the rig crew's emergency training saved lives following the 2010 explosion that killed 11 workers and triggered the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

BP has asked a federal judge to sanction its cement contractor on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling project for allegedly withholding critical evidence that could have been used at the ongoing trial over the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

David Young testified Monday at the start of the fifth week of a federal trial designed to identify the causes of BP's well blowout and assign fault to the companies involved.

Young, a witness called by rig owner Transocean, said he believes 115 workers managed to escape the burning rig because they followed their training. He described a harrowing scene as workers scrambled to help injured colleagues get to life rafts and abandon the burning rig.

Young, who was second-in-command to the rig's captain, also defended the Deepwater Horizon's maintenance record.